She hopes to grow a scholarship

Leaf to leaf Jordyn Diaz’s cabbage is nearly 40 inches wide.

And Diaz, 9, is hoping that her cabbage will turn more green. Green enough to win her a $1,000 scholarship.

Her single robust cabbage, growing in her great-grandfather's garden, started from a three-inch seedling.

"We all got them at school," Diaz said. "I talked to kids at school and they all said theirs had died. There was just one boy who said his was growing."

The Tucumcari Elementary School project for third graders was sponsored by Bonnie Plants company.

Because there are dogs in her yard at home, Diaz said, she brought her plant to her great-grantparents Frances and Larry Peterson.

Diaz, the daughter of Ruben and Laurie Diaz, also has tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers growing at the Peterson's house. But right now she’s just focusing the cabbage.

And so are others. Even when Jordyn’s grandmother in New York calls, she asks about the cabbage, said Laurie Diaz.

What Jordyn Diaz is aiming for is a scholarship prize from Bonnie Plants of a $1,000 savings bond for college that will be awarded to the third grader in the state who has grown the largest cabbage.

The variety she is growing, the O.S. Cross, could grow to 55 pounds, Jordyn said. So far, she estimates her cabbage to be at between 10 and 12 pounds.

But there's still plenty of sunny growing days left before the contest ends in the early fall.

When the contest is over, will Jordyn cook and eat her cabbage?

"They will,” said Jordyn pointing to her family.

“I don't like cabbage."